Remains of an Ancient Greek Building Discovered in MaltaAuthor(s): A. A. CaruanaSource: The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, Vol. 4,No. 4 (Dec., 1888), pp. 450-454Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/496131Accessed: 11/12/2009 05:33

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REMAINS OF AN ANCIENT GREEK BUILDING DISCOVERED IN MALTA.

The remains of the basement-floor of the building, a ground-plan of which is given in Figure 17, was discovered in February, 1888, in a field (archiepiscopal property) called Nadur, and formerly bearing also the name of Teides-Iz-zghir. They lie at a distance of about 5 miles to the south of Valletta, and midway between the villages of Luca and Mkabba, in a lonely but well-cultivated district of the island.

Though constructed of large blocks of stone, these remains cannot, in

any way, be considered as belonging to the megalithic class of struc- tures of which there are so many in these islands: they differ from the

megalithic class both in type and in mode of construction. The very few fragments of cornices found amongst the debris, and

the large blocks carefully cut, neatly dressed, and laid with mortar in

regular courses, 1 ft. 10 ins. high, testify to the Greek origin of the

building. It probably belongs to the same epoch as (1) the portion of a Greek house still existing in the village of Turriek, (2) the wall bor-

dering on the road leading from that village to Casal Safi, (3) the remains existing on the road to Sta. Maria Tas-Silc on the promontory of Delimara, (4) several others which are seen elsewhere in the Maltese Islands.l

The two tanks, marked A, A, on the ground-plan (Figure 17), bear a

great resemblance to the tank in the lands Ta Medeniet, near the Phoenician temple of Melkart.2 These tanks, like that, are of a primi- tive construction, having a flat roof of roofing-stones (say 1 ft. thick, 3 ft. broad, 8 ft. long) resting on architraves or lintels (measuring, on an average, 8 ft. X 1 ft. 10 ins. X 1 ft. 10 ins.) supported by rows of monolith pillars (the greater part of which are about 9 ft. high and 1 ft. 10 ins. square). This primitive mode of constructing reservoirs for water leads me to believe that the building in question belongs to the early Greek epoch.

It is beyond doubt, that Greek colonies had settled in these islands about 700 B. c., which is very nearly the epoch of most Greek settle-

'Illustrated in my Report on the Antiquities existing in the Islands of Malta, 1882. 2 See illustration on page 22 of said Report.

450

AN ANCIENT GREEK BUILDING IN MALTA.

COURT - YArD

- T . - - . - - _ _ __

A .-.---_r --- _..-r _--

I I ___ __ _

I T |

FIG. 17.-Ground-plan of the portion excavated of Greek Farm-house discovered in Malta.

451

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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEJOLOG Y.

ments in Sicily.3 It is also certain that they remained in the islands

throughout the period of the Roman dominion. A comparison of the

plan of this building with that of any of the Maltese megalithic monu-

ments, such, for instance, as that of Hagiar Kim, in Malta, or Gigantia, in Gozo, shows, at a glance, the difference in their type. The plotting of the plan of our building shows nothing of the apsidal form that pre- dominates throughout the Maltese megalithic monuments and consti- tutes their characteristic feature; in which the attempt at decoration by symbolic ornaments, and the internal arrangement, consisting of numer- ous hidden recesses and niches (proving their destination as places of

worship) offer a great contrast to the remains now unearthed, which

present in the doorways, steps, grinding-mills, troughs, sinks, etc., the characteristics of a private building. It is, in fact, nothing more than a large farm-house or country-residence, containing in the basement- floor what is necessary for carrying on agricultural operations on a com-

paratively large scale. It is, as yet, difficult to make out with certainty what portion of the

original building has been discovered; the more so, that many of the remains of the walls have been demolished or otherwise disturbed, owing to the excavations having been carried on without proper super- vision or direction. It is, however, most probable that the portion now seen is an angle of the sides or wings which might have surrounded a

courtyard overlying the two tanks mentioned above, and affording an

easy means of communication; on the inside of the building, between the several parts of the premises at the basement-floor. In this case, L would be the entrance from the courtyard into the premises, as shown by the presence of the jambs; M, M, two doorways leading to parts of the premises situate at a higher level, as it is to be inferred from the

steps still existing; whilst a door (N) afforded access to other rooms in the basement-floor. This door has, near its jamb, a groove (0) intended, no doubt, to receive the edge of a round stone-slab like the one seen at H, sealing up doorway P. Although it is rather difficult to surmise the destination of each of the rooms and recesses shown in the drawing, still I would say that the areas Q, Q, Q appear to have been used as stables or sheep-pens; and R, R may have been used as places where the olives were stored to ferment before being crushed and pressed.

The actual position of the grinding-mills, troughs, etc., which are still in situ, clearly explains, in my opinion, the several stages of the

3 Report aforesaid, ~ 32.

452

AN ANCIENT GREEK BUILDING IN MALTA.

process of expressing oil, for which these mills, etc., were intended. I consider it, in fact, most probable that the fruit, after having been split and crushed in the hard-stone mill (B), was removed to the other mill

(C), whence the oil was made to percolate through the cutting (s), still

existing in the floor of the mill (C), into the troughs (D, D), partly filled with water for the purpose of purifying the oil. The 9il so expressed was finally carried and poured into a sort of receptacle (T), whence it was made to run through a channel (U, U) into a vat (G) purposely made with a compost of lime and d.iffun, that is to say, ground pottery, and there stored. That water was used for the purpose here mentioned is clearly evinced from the presence, in close proximity to the troughs (D, D), of a sink (F) into which all polluted water from the troughs could be easily drained off. This primitive process would bear a great resem- blance to that still followed in many parts of Barbary.

FIG. 18.-Plan and Sectn of 2 .3in Greekfarm-house: mard B on g n.

FIG. 18.--Plan and Section of Crushing-Mill in Greekfarm-house: marked B on ground-Tplan.

The process of expressing oil just described is further illustrated by Figure 18, which shows the plan and section of the hard-stone crush-

ing mill, B. It is made of a basin (a) (4 ft. 2 ins. in diameter, and 2 ft. 8 ins. high) in the form of a segment of a sphere. It is provided with two edge-runners (b, b) (2 ft. 9 ins. in diameter) which also have the form of a segment of a sphere made to fit into the cavity of the basin: each of the two edge-runners has a hole in the centre, apparently for the insertion of a horizontal axle (d, d). From the centre of the basin rises a cylindrical pillar (c) supporting a pivot on which revolved the horizontal axle now mentioned, let through the edge-runners and

working like a capstan-bar, thereby setting in a rotatory motion the two edge-runners (b, b).4

This mill is entirely similar to the two discovered in 1879 among the remains of the Roman Villa at San Paul Milkghi at Ben- Uarrat, mentioned in ~ 95 of the afore- said Report.

453

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHEOLOGY.

The storing capacity, say 6200 gls., of the oil-vat (G) being too large for the quantity of oil which could possibly be obtained from a single mill, I am inclined to believe that other mills, which have been either

destroyed or removed, existed in proximity to this vat. Further excavations would, I think, lead to the discovery of the

remaining vestiges of the building; and this opinion is confirmed by the farmers of that locality, who speak of stone pavements and other works in masonry as still lying buried in the adjoining lands.

Though nothing remarkable in the way of art has been recovered from these excavations, the remains themselves are of interest as afford-

ing additional evidence of the flourishing state of agriculture in these islands at remote epochs, of the existence of large plantations of olive- trees at the time, and that the eastern part of the island was, at a remote

period, the most thickly settled, and was studded with large centres of habitation of which nothing now remains but such relics as the above, and their ancient nomenclature.

A. A. CARUANA, Director of Education.

Public Library, Valletta, Malta, April 16, 1888.

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